Become a DIY cyborg (if you want).

There’s a lot of Super-villains to choose from these days. I mean there’s Joker, Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort, Wario, and who can forget the Black Widow?

And it’s almost common to worship and love the bad guys/gals as much as we root for the heroes. Maybe it’s because there’s something refreshing about a superhero being confronted by his/her dark shadow (manifested into physical form) that makes the hero even more relate-able.

At one point, I’m sure (or almost sure) that we have all aspired to be a hero; yet many of us have had struggled with our shadow selves that have made obtaining our goal that much more elusive.

Because, yes, that duality exists within us.

Where am I going with this?

Well, there has long existed a duality between human beings and machines. The coexistence of the two seem to indicate friendship yet conflict. Sometimes, one appears as if not being able to live without the other.

And this duality is becoming even greater as we enter the age of DIY/open-sourced Cyborg-ness.

We have come crossed many examples of this in the fictional narrative: the Bionic Woman, Cyborg-Superman, etc.

But these examples are increasingly found in real life.

One of the most recent and groundbreaking inventions is pioneered by none other than Hackberry, a Japanese company that strives to make cyborg abilities available, not to the elite, but— to the masses.

Recently they have utilized a popular technology, 3D printing, to create an electric hand.

The invention of an electric hand can appear to be a God-send for those who come ill-equipped with a well-functioning organic one. Still, it’s a great option for those who are not lacking in this area because the electric hand appears to expand and improve upon one’s own physiology.

Particularly, the electric hand contains features so that it can have more variation in movements (thereby matching or surpassing your natural ones). Because of its sensors, it can easily grasp and pick objects, among other things.

Yet, even more astounding is the fact that it is open-sourced, which means it allows other coders to hack into the data to improve upon its features. It’s safe to assume that, collectively, our brain power can accomplish much more when working together rather than relying on a few single persons; this can triple the rate of improvements in DIY cyborg technology (also referred to as “biohacks” “grinders”). Imagine if someone could come up with a code that allows the electric hand to have the grip equivalent to iron-man!

Oh and get this, you can have one too, as long as you have the main ingredients which involve: 3D model, code, and sensor data (all can be purchased at less than 300 dollars). You can read more about the awesomeness here:

With that said, I’d love to see a battle of thumb war between a 100% organic hand and a cyborg one 😛

Hi! I'm trying to think of something witty and something that can distinguish me from other writers but all I can come up with at this moment is a cute emoticon ---> o(^__~)V (that's an overly happy Kirby giving you a seductive wink and a peace sign btw). I write screenplays and I love old-school nintendo games <3 I'm passionate about all things that are related to storytelling and art. I'm a science geek as well! And it's a beautiful thing when science and art and stories can exist in the same domain, don't you think? <3